East European gaming developers seem to be going from strength to strength. From Latvia to Poland and the Czech Republic, companies from the former Communist Bloc countries are forging ahead with some great games and big developments.
Launched in 2007, Apollo Games now boasts an arsenal of online and offline slots available in dozens of countries. While the UK, Europe, and Africa are Apollo's main target areas, you'll find games embedded in physical terminals as well as at online casinos.
Is Apollo Games a "star in the industry", as the developer suggests? Let's take a closer look.
Set up in the Czech capital of Prague in 2007, Apollo Soft/Apollo Games started out designing gaming machines for casinos in Europe and Africa. Backed by an experienced team of IT and GUI (Game User Interface) design developers and engineers, Apollo set about making titles for use in IVTs (Interactive Video Terminals) and casino slot cabinets, as well as HTML5 games for online sites.
Apollo Games titles are available in multiple currencies and languages. Whether you're in the UK, Czech Republic, or Slovakia, you can enjoy the same games. Although details are sketchy at the moment, the company is aiming to make inroads into the Asian market.
New partnerships are always being announced. In 2018, Apollo announced a deal to supply slots and games to BetConstruct's award-winning software platform. This platform features thousands of games from many of the top developers, with Microgaming slots, Playtech titles, Digitalwin slots, WMG slots, and others.
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Apollo Games titles cover VLTs and online sites. A big selling point of Apollo is its emphasis on HD graphics. All new slots from the Czech developer come with animation and video cutaway sequences.
There are plenty of companies that boast "cutting-edge graphic design" in their briefs, but with Apollo Games, that promise seems to be justified. 3D slots like Slot Ghosts and Gangster World genuinely take graphics to a new level.
VLTs: There are over 30 titles currently available for land-based casino terminals. Casinos have a choice of setups. Apollo 1 features 16 of Apollo's slots, while Apollo 2 – launched in 2015 – has newer games and HD revamps of older titles.
Modern terminals like Thunder and Orcane have LCD screens, subwoofers for better sound, and software and games audited by GLI. Apollo Games also allows participating casinos to add three-tier progressive jackpots (bronze, silver, and gold) to game menus.
HTML5 Slots: Apollo's range of slots is mobile-optimized to work on all platforms. The HTML5 titles work on Mac and PC, and these are online slots compatible with Apple iOS smartphones and Android handsets.
While limited, Apollo Games' portfolio of slots is crammed with a wide range of themes and styles. The RTP varies from game to game, but we found returns in Apollo's slots to be in the rough 95-96% ballpark. While the free play versions don't mention them, games can have progressive jackpots added at the request of the casino or platform.
The overriding feeling when playing Apollo's slot is quality. It’s obvious that a lot of work has gone into these games, and there seem to be some pretty happy designers working their socks off in the Prague head office. Here are three of Apollo's best in 2019:
Gangster World: Played over five reels and featuring 20 paylines, Gangster World immerses the player in a 1930s world of illegal booze, machine guns, and Mafia. There are some truly beautiful graphics featured in the game – all 3D, of course – together with some pretty slick animation.
After any winning spin, players get to use a gamble feature to double their win. Simply select one of four cards, and if it's higher than the dealer's card, your win is doubled.
There are wilds galore in the slot, all guaranteeing a multiplier from 2x to 16x. As the wilds fill up winning combinations, a cool animated gangster launches into action and sprays bullets across the screen. Wilds can appear at random on-screen. Exploding Molotov cocktails will also destroy whole blocks of symbols, allowing the icons above to fall into their place.
Three bonus symbols will trigger a special free spins feature with sticky symbols. It's possible to win tens of thousands of coins in the bonus game, although the max stake is set at $10 per spin.
Slot Birds: Completely different in terms of theme – although no less slick – is Slot Birds. Featuring a cheery soundtrack and 3D graphics, the game looks and feels a lot like iSoftBet's Happy Birds slot.
The main characters are a group of wacky parrots, chickens, and vultures who flit and flap around the reels, belching their way to some big prizes.
The slot has its own version of cascading reels, where winning combinations give way to symbols sitting above on the reels. The more consecutive wins you hit, the higher your prize multiplier. Apollo's clunky-sounding “Tetris-alike Falling With Multiplier” feature might need a tweak, however.
As in Gangster World, the slot features random wilds and a gamble feature. But there are other random events – like birds suddenly flying off-screen to leave gaps in the reels to fill, and birds exploding to give the player some big wins. The game is a massive assault on the senses.
Turbo Slots: While Apollo offers games with wacky flying feathered creatures and slick animated gangsters, it can also bring things back to the classics.
HTML5 title Turbo Slots 81 is a take on the classic AWP slot machines. In look and feel, it's similar to some of Novomatic's Sizzling Hot games, but the graphics and overall gameplay have been ramped up several notches.
The slot has just five paylines on its five reels, which can mean a volatile experience. However, the payouts can be decent, especially when you trigger the expanding wild. As with other Apollo Games slots, there's a random wild that can add plenty of coins to your balance. Look out for the Twister wild, which mixes up every symbol on the reels to form new win lines.
The Turbo Slots 81 slot machine is one of a range of classic AWP-style slots from the Czech manufacturer. Less slick than, say, Gangster World, the range includes titles like Mystery Casino, Golden Age, and Multi Fruits. While these games feature simple gaming, there is always room for a bonus round or random wild.
In addition to slots, Apollo Games spreads a limited range of video poker titles for land-based casinos. American poker is a take on classic video poker and features a Four-of-a-Kind bonus worth 400,000 coins for players.
On a similar note, Slot Joker has a whopping 4-million-coin jackpot for players hitting a Royal Flush. It follows the standard five-card draw format for video poker, but all jokers act wild.
If you like online slots with the latest 3D graphics, you'll get a kick out of Apollo Games. While the animated features aren't to everyone's liking, they look fantastic – and in the case of games like Slot Birds, they form a key feature of the bonus rounds.
We also have a soft spot for Apollo's more classic slots. Bonus Joker is a simple 3x3-reel slot with fruit and 7 symbols. But like a lot of Apollo titles, it has a three-level jackpot and a gamble feature to make things more interesting.
The RTP of Apollo's slots is around the 95% mark, but the developer states that the rate is adjustable depending on the casino.
The offline and online slots space is getting ever more crowded. Anyone who comes along with new ideas and better features will always attract players.
That's why it will be interesting to see where Apollo Games goes next. The Czech developer certainly has the software knowledge and ideas to create exciting slots. And with a possible three-tier progressive jackpot on every slot, what's not to like?
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